In semiconductor diodes and semiconductor switching devices including a body diode like IGFETs (insulated gate field effect transistors) as well as RC-IGBTs (reverse conducting insulated gate bipolar transistors) mobile charge carriers may flood a semiconductor region along a forward biased pn junction and may form a dense charge carrier plasma that yields a low forward resistance of the semiconductor diode or body diode. The charge carrier plasma is removed in a reverse recovery period when the concerned pn junction changes from forward biased to reverse biased. The reverse recovery process contributes to the dynamic switching losses of the semiconductor device. Typically, a desaturation mechanism may attenuate the charge carrier plasma before switching the pn junction from forward biased to reverse biased in order to reduce the dynamic switching losses. It is desirable to provide semiconductor devices with improved switching characteristics.